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Recharging the Batteries | 16 comments (16 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Recharging the Batteries (none / 0)

I think he has to do what he often did during the campaign when he found that his effort was stalled. He needs to go back to his core values and reevaluate where he stands and adjust his strategy.

He needs to involve his activists more, and he needs to fire them up, which requires that he take a more political (not-partisan necessarily) tone. He needs to talk to the people directly, without the filter of the media. He's lost touch with the organization that got him elected because he's had to do a lot of things that weren't part of his campaign, like bailing out Detroit and Wall St.

OFA is doing a lot, and it isn't getting much press, but they need to do more. He's got to change the game. His movement wasn't about being a Democrat, so getting boxed in to having to keep the whole party united is throwing him off his game.

I think he should try to build up OFA, get new members, get them activated, get them knocking doors. Keep building the movement, and keep doing it along non-party specific terms. They folded OFA into the DNC, and I think that may be strangling his creation.

But he can't just sit up there trying to hold the Dem caucus united at 60 to do anything. He's gotta find a way to apply pressure on the Republicans, and it's not working right now because the Dem Base is disengaged and increasingly apathetic.

by BooMan on Sat Nov 28th, 2009 at 11:26:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Recharging the Batteries (none / 0)

Everything you mention here has merit. But come the first of the year virtually all of Washington, not to mention the media, are going to kick into campaign mode as we roll toward November. I just have a lot of difficulty believing that in that kind of environment Obama is going to be able to regain any momentum to rebuild the movement that got him into the White House. He has certainly had a lot on his plate the first year. But allowing the political machine built during his campaign to essentially rust, whether due to apathy or lack of resources to keep it tended, is going to be quite a hurdle to overcome.

How is he going to be able to "change the game" when he is facing an opposition party that seems to be willing to obstruct one hundred percent of the time, even though it is believed (or just hoped???) by some to be political suicide? The GOP is banking that keeping Washington completely ineffectual will be translated in the minds of the voters as a failure by Obama. And I think that is probably a pretty good bet to make. That, coupled with a continuing rallying of the nutty fringe that is their base and the likelihood of Democratic apathy in the face of what will still be horrible employment figures for the foreseeable future, does not bode well for the kind of political recovery you are hoping for.

I can't help but think that this is going to be a very bad year for Obama and for Democrats. There is an extremely large arrays of forces lined up who are pushing very hard for Obama to fail. They smell blood in the water. And the media is aiding and abetting these forces in a way that makes it almost impossible to change the narrative in such a way that he can rebound quickly. He is facing a very long and steep hill ahead. He had better have a lot of rabbits in his hat.

by Richard Bachman on Sat Nov 28th, 2009 at 12:32:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

And right after posting me previous comment (none / 0)

I see this:

A pretty staggering number out of the new Daily Kos weekly tracking poll. They asked voters, basically, how are sure are you you're going to vote next year.
The first number is certain or likely to vote; the second is unlikely or certain not to vote.
Republican Voters: 81/14
Independent Voters: 65/23
Democratic Voters: 56/40

Not real encouraging right now.

by Richard Bachman on Sat Nov 28th, 2009 at 12:39:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Recharging the Batteries | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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